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.0. A. BASSETT.

. GLAPBOARDING TOOL.

Patented Aug. 26, 1884.

Hanna S'ra'rns' Arnn'r @rrrcn.

ORRIN A. BASSETT, OF PLAINVILLE, CONNECTICUT, ASSIG-NOR OF ONE- HALF TO G. ARTHUR XVASHBURN, OF SAME PLACE.

CLAPBOARDING=TOOL.

GEECIFZCATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No, 304,064, dated August 26, 1884.

(No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, Onnrn A. Bnssnrr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Plainville, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ClapboardingTools, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in clapboarding-tools; and the object of improvement is to produce a more convenient tool for gaging the position of the clapboards and for squaring their ends, and one which shall be inexpensive to build. I attain this obj cot by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a front elevation of my tool, a corner board, and a few clapboards- Fig. 2 is a side ele ation of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detached side elevation of a portion of the frame for the marker, which is a part'of mytool. Fig. i is a transverse section thereof on line :0 a; of Fig. 3,and on the same scale. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the marking-knife for my tool, the same being represented on a still larger scale. Fig. (3 is an end view of said knife, and Fig. 7 is an edge of the same.

A designates the holding-head, one end of which is made flat and thin, to adapt it to be driven into the clapboard and to hold the complete device when so driven in. Its upper face, and a little back from the flattened thinned end, also serves as the gage and support for the lower edge of the clapboard. Said head is also provided with a handle, a, and driving-face I), for convenience of holding the same and of driving in the thinned end. The drivingfacc b is specially adapted to receive blows from a hammer ormallet, and the handle a is upon the under side of the head A, out of the way of the face I), and is provided with a finger-opening, said drivingface and handle being formed integral with the head A, as shown most clearly in Fig. 2.

Extending downward from the head A is a gage-rod, B, upon which is secured a sliding gage, c, which is held in place on the rod by the set-screw d. The sides of this red may, if desired, be provided with a graduated scale, as shown in Fig. 2.

In arranging the tool for use the upper face of the gage 0 will be set a distance from the upper face of the thinned end of A just equal to the intended exposed face of the clapboard. After one or more clapboards have been put on, and it is desired to prepare for another one, the tool is grasped by the handle a, the gage c placed against the lower edge of the clapboard last put on, and the thinned end of the head A driven into said clapboard toward its upper edge, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Another liketool will be secured in the same way at the other end of the clapboard, both of said tools being near the corner board or casing, C. If the clapboard is of great length, one or more tools may be applied in like manner at other points. The next clapboard, D, is then placed with its lower edge resting upon the upper face of the heads A, so asto bring said clapboard into position for squaring or trimming its ends to fit the corner boards. The head A is also provided with a short flexihis connection in the form of a cord or chain, c, and snap-hook f, hooked into a suitable eye or ring, 9, of the marker-frame E, from which chain the marker may hang in a pendent position when not in use. This marker is provided with two arms, h, for acting against the edge of the corner board, (1- I also provide said frame with a suitable handle, F, and with a marking-knife, G. This knife is arranged in suitable guides, so as to slide lengthwisewith the marker-frame E, and with the cuttingedge of the knife in the same plane as the inner or acting faces of the arms h it. The best way at present known to me for constructing this sliding knife and attaching it to the marker is as follows: ,1 form a groove, k, Figs. 3 and i, in the edge of the marker-frame. I make the knife G by blanking it out from sheet metal, so as to form one or more spurs, m and then turn the ends of the blank to form side projections, 01, which. projections are fitted to and work in the groove is.

In order to prevent crowding the drawings, the reference-letters for the detail part of the knife G are shown only in Figs. 5, (i, and 7 The handle 0 for the knife G is first blanked out in the same plane with the body of the knife, as indicated by the broken circle in Fi 5, after which its neck or shank p is twisted until its handle stands at about right angles to the knife, as shown. After the knife has been thus formed it is set in place upon the frame E, and secured thereto by means of the cap q, said cap being recessed to make room for the neck or shank of the knife, so that it may slide substantially from end to end of the frame. One end of the clapboard, if sound, may be so nearly of the proper angle across its endffas to be fitted by a plane without sawing ito For marking to saw off an and the elapboard is rested upon the heads A A, with the end projecting more or less over the face of the corner board, as shown. The marker, still connected to the head by the chain c, is then placed over the face of said clapboard, with the arms h it one above and one below the edges of the clapboard, and with the act ing faces of said arms resting against the in ner edge of the corner board, as shown in Figs. land 2. The workman holds said marker in place with one of his hands on the bandle F, while with his other hand he grasps the handle of the knife G, draws the knife lengthwise with the marker over the face of the clapboard to mark the end for sawing off. The marker may then be allowed to fall, when it will remain supported by means of the chain c. The clapboard can then be removed and its end sawed off. The other end of the clapboard may be marked and sawed off in like manner, in case it had not been previously fitted. The clapboard is then again placed on the upper face of the heads A,which willgage it in its position fornailing. After ithas been nailed the holding-heads A may be removed and again secured upon the clapboard last be fore laid for use in laying the next succeeding clapboard in the manner before described. I provide the marker with two eyes, g, and the chain with the snap-hook f, in orderto permit the chain to be connected with either end of the marker to adapt it for use at either end of the clapboard. If desired, the marker might be permanently attached to the head A by a chain, and then be sold in pairs of rights and lefts.

I designates a spirit-level, which may, if

desired, be attached to the marker, for leveling in connection with the acting faces of the arms h h.

I am aware that prior patents show clapboarding-tools which consist of ahead having thinned end and upper supporting-face, a gage rod or bar depending from said head, and a gage adjustably mounted on said rod or bar; that in some of said tools the head is provided With a broad knob-like handle, which, when not used as a handle, can be used asadrivingface; that in one case the head is provided with a driving-face, and the depending bar is provided with a handle; also, that prior patents show markers having a handle, gagingarms, and a sliding knife whose edge is confined in the same plane as the acting facesof said arms; also, a clapboarding-tool to which such a marker may be attached by means of a pin-andsocket connection for marking across a clapboard and then removed; and, also, a clapboarding tool provided with three pins or hooks upon which to hang, when not in use, a saw, a scratch-aw], and a marking-gage. All of said prior art is hereby diselaimed.

I claim as my invention- 1. The herein-described clapboarding-tool, consisting of the head A, having one thinned end, the drivingface at its opposite end, the handle a, having finger-opening upon the un der side of the head, between said ends, and the depending rod and gage, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

2. The herein-described clapboarding-tool, consisting of the holding-head havingthinned end, driving-face, andhandle, the gage-rod and its gage, and the marker having gage-arms and sliding knife connected to the head A bya chain, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

8. The combination of the marker-frame E, having groove 7;, the sheet-metal knife having its ends bent to fit said groove, and the cap 95, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

ORRIN A. BASSETT. lVitn esses:

JosnrI-r FLYNN, It. 0. Usnnn. 

